Sugar and Spike: Retro Comics Worth the Calories
I was quite pleased to discover that DC Comics will be releasing a hardcover collection of Sugar and Spike which will go on sale at the end of August this year. Typically one associates DC with superheroes but this series of comic books which ran from 1956 until 1971 was a kid focused humor book — and in many ways reminiscent of the series Rugrats.
The series was the brainchild of Sheldon Mayer who was credited for saving Superman from the rejection pile. Mayer worked as a writer, editor and artist in the comic book starting in the early 30s with a brief detour working as a cel painter for Fleischer animation studios. By the late 30s he had gone back to comics tow ork at the company that would later become DC Comics.
By 1948 he retired from editing comic books in order to devote himself to cartooning — and thus Sugar and Spike was born. What makes the book ahead of its time is that the toddlers in the book can communicate with each other, but not the rest of the world. Today this is a standard comedy gimmick, but Mayer was ahead of his time.
What’s also interesting about this series is that it really goes back to the cherished notion that kids can be real brats. Sugar and Spike is a real contrast to the gentle kids you see in Peanuts or Family Circus — in many ways the book harkens back to the Katzenjammer Kids.
In order to keep the quality high Mayer insisted that he be the only one allowed to work on the book — and the series under Mayer run until his death in 1991. DC has kept to their word, although they’ve allowed cameo appearances of the characters in other comic books. So I’m happy that DC is honoring Mayer by giving his book its proper due and presenting Sugar and Spike to a new generation of fans.
